Medical Society

On May 18, the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PaMED) Board of Trustees approved a recommendation to establish a work group, which would include PaACEP representatives, to develop a white paper that defines how crowding impacts physicians and patient care; identifies best practices to resolve ED crowding; advocates that the Department of Health address the issue, and seeks hospital data collection.  

Board action was based on a 2009 PaMED House of Delegates chapter-sponsored resolution that called on the Medical Society to work with the chapter to adopt a policy statement that would define the ‘boarded ED admitted patient’ as one who remains in a Pennsylvania ED more than two hours after the decision to admit.